On the eve of Labour’s annual conference in Manchester, the party’s Shadow Scottish Secretary hit out at Michael Moore – branding him a “Tory-lite” politician.

Curran said: “The fact that he can go to his conference and defend Tory cuts on welfare and benefits is just an insult to the Scottish people.

“It just doesn’t look as if he’s round that cabinet table fighting for Scotland.”

The Glasgow East MP also vowed that Alex Salmond will not get the result he wants in the independence referendum

She added: “We can’t keep talking about this forever because we’re putting on hold all the other big decisions we have to make.

“I don’t accept the SNP are running rings around us. We are ahead of the game in thinking about the future of the country.

“The SNP’s approach is just too similar to the coalition’s. They promise jam today and don’t think about the consequences.”

In a sustained attack on the coalition, she accused Moore of ducking the big issues facing the country.

She said: “In Scotland, 73,000 people have lost their child tax credits, unemployment is at a 16-year high and one in five young people have no job.

“He’s telling us everything is going well and that we’re turning a corner.”

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said yesterday that a future Labour government in Westminster would look at every item of expenditure to see how it fitted Labour’s priorities.

And Curran defended Labour’s new “honest” approach to spending.

She said Scottish leader Johann Lamont was looking at policies to help get the country back on track.

She added: “The one thing you have to do in a recession is invest in skills. You have to spend in a way that creates demand, you don’t cut back on construction, you look at procurement and you try to build the skills base.

“We need to be honest about what the options are but on the basis of our values, we can offer people a hopeful future, so that we can deliver for all our people.”